Abstract
The origins of CSIRO can be traced back to the foundation in 1916 of the DSIR, under the pressure of scientists, for a greater use of science in industry. After some initial uncertainty as to how to run such an organisation, CSIR was set up in 1926. Early research was devoted to agriculture, but in the late 1930s CSIR redirected its thrust towards industrial research. Under a McCarthy-like scare in 1949, the CSIR's name was changed to the CSIRO and since then it has continued to produce important work on a wide variety of topics.
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White, F. A personal account of the historical development of CSIRO. Nature 261, 633–636 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/261633a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/261633a0